The $3 Trillion Experience Economy Is Here.
Is Your Marketing Strategy Ready for It?
Consumer spending has shifted dramatically. The brands winning this estimated $3 trillion market aren't selling products or destinations — they're selling experiences.
Find out how your messaging and website measure up in 5 minutes.
Winning the Experience-Driven Consumer
Experience spending has surged 60% while spending on things dropped 30%. For travel and outdoor brands, this is the biggest growth opportunity in decades. But most brands are still marketing like it’s 2010.
Learn How to Win in Today’s Experience Economy
The Psychology Behind It
The Purchase Funnel Flipped.
Your Marketing Didn't.
Travel & Tourism:
Visitors aren’t just choosing destinations, hotels, or attractions anymore. They’re choosing experiences first—then finding destinations and lodging that offer them. But you’re still leading with amenities and beautiful scenery.
Result:
You’re invisible when high-value travelers are making decisions.
Outdoor Brands:
Casual and active participants are now driving 90% of market spending, while you’re still marketing to the 5% who are core enthusiasts.
Result:
You’re alienating your biggest opportunity.
What This Shift Is Costing You Right Now
Shrinking Market Share
Experience-first brands are capturing loyalty that will compound for years. Every quarter you wait, the gap widens.
Revenue Left on Table
20% of travelers drive 60% of spending. You can’t identify them, target them, or retain them.
Invisible to High-Value Consumers
Experience-driven outdoor buyers research differently. If you’re not in their discovery channels, you don’t exist.
Closing Window
Early movers are building emotional switching costs. Soon, the experience-driven market will be locked in.
See Where You're Losing Ground
(And How to Fix It)
The Experience Marketing
Brand Grader
We created a diagnostic tool that analyzes your website across the 12 dimensions that drive experience-driven consumer behavior.
In 5 minutes, you’ll discover:
- Where you rank vs. experience-first leaders
- Your biggest opportunities for quick wins
- Specific friction points costing conversions
- Which channels need immediate attention
- Your personalized improvement roadmap
Step
1
Winning the
Experience-Driven Consumers
After you get your score, download our 45-page strategic playbook with everything you need to capture experience-driven growth.
Here’s what’s inside:
- The 4-step Experience-First Marketing framework
- Channel-specific optimization strategies
- 15+ case studies with measurable results
- Consumer behavior data and research
- Implementation strategies and tactics
Step
2
Is This Right for You?
This strategic brief is essential if you’re:
- A destination marketing organization competing for experience-driven travelers
- A hotel, resort, or attraction losing bookings to integrated platforms
- An outdoor brand watching competitors capture your growth market
- A CMO or marketing director defending budget for new strategies
- A CEO who sees declining effectiveness from traditional marketing
- Anyone responsible for capturing the $3 trillion experience economy
This probably isn’t for you if:
- You're satisfied with current growth rates
- You believe consumer behavior hasn't fundamentally changed
- You're not ready to question existing strategies
20 Years of Travel & Outdoor Marketing Expertise
Watauga Group combines deep industry expertise with cutting-edge understanding of experience-driven consumer behavior. We’ve helped destinations, attractions, hospitality providers, and outdoor brands transform marketing strategy into measurable results.
We don’t just study trends. We help you capitalize on them.
Learn more from Watauga’s insights for Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Brands
The $3 Trillion Experience Economy Won't Wait
Every day, experience-driven consumers are forming brand loyalties. The brands capturing those relationships now will benefit for years.
Download the brief. Grade your brand. Start implementing.
The experience economy won’t wait.
Let’s talk about turning strategy into measurable results
How this plays out across Generations
Gen Z & Millennials
show the most extreme version of experience
prioritization. These groups will cut spending on housing, transportation, consumer goods, and even food before they reduce their experience budgets.
Gen X
Boomers
Active Seniors
Experience-Driven Consumer Personas
Four key audience segments that drive demand in the travel and outdoor industries
Adventure Maya
Gen Z & Millennials
18-42 years old
Show the most extreme version of experience prioritization. They will cut spending on housing, transportation, consumer goods, and even food before they reduce their experience budgets.
Key Motivators
- Authentic experiences
- Social sharing
- Personal identity
- Novel discoveries
Leading the experience-first shift with willingness to sacrifice traditional purchases
Explorer James
Gen X
43-59 years old
At peak earning years with disposable income, creating memories with growing families. Demonstrate heightened time awareness, making them willing to invest in experiences that deliver both adventure and comfort.
Key Motivators
- Family bonding
- Quality over quantity
- Time efficiency
- Comfort with adventure
Substantial market often overlooked, balancing fam
Curator Linda
Boomers
60-78 years old
Represent about 20% of experience spending—a substantial market that often gets overlooked. More value-conscious and selective than younger consumers, and will reduce experience spending to preserve financial stability.
Key Motivators
- Value for money
- Comfort & safety
- Cultural enrichment
- Flexibility
Different spending priorities—will cut experiences before financial stability
Wanderer Robert
Active Seniors
55-80 years old
Defying stereotypes, prioritizing wellness, adventure within their comfort parameters, and meaningful travel. Have both time and often discretionary income, making them valuable targets for travel and outdoor brands that avoid patronizing messaging.
Key Motivators
- Wellness focus
- Accessible adventure
- Meaningful travel
- Group experiences
Time-rich with resources, seeking comfort alongside authentic experiences
Industry Opportunities
Travel Industry
Prioritize Experience
Over Products
Travel for
Experience and Culture
Outdoor Industry
Market Spend Comes from
Active + Casual Consumers
Of Shoppers Identify As
Casual Participants
Why This Matters Now
Travel, tourism, and outdoor brands that authentically position themselves as experience enablers will capture extraordinary growth. Those that keep operating with product-focused strategies while their competitors transform? They’ll find themselves competing for a shrinking slice of the market.
We have
the playbook.
We have
compelling data.
- Showcase signature experiences and their emotional
outcomes, not destination amenities or product features - Capture and share peak moments that create lasting
memories around your destination or product. - Personalize marketing on emotional drivers (growth,
happiness, connection), not just demographics. - Target Super-Spenders driving 60% of travel sales and Casual/Active participants representing 90% of outdoor
spending. - Market across the experience journey: build anticipation,
enhance the moment, extend the memory.
